The All Progressives Congress in Osun State has rejected claims by the Peoples Democratic Party and a network of civil society organisations that its chairmen are illegally occupying local government council secretariats across the state.
The Network of Civil Society Groups, speaking through its convener, Stephen Olanrewaju, called on chairmen currently running council areas to vacate office immediately, alleging that their tenure ended on October 26, 2025.
The group accused the Osun State Command of the Nigeria Police Force of giving protection to what it described as “illegal executives in Osun LGA” and demanded the immediate withdrawal of personnel providing security for the council chairmen.
Addressing journalists in Osogbo on Monday, Olanrewaju traced the crisis in Osun local governments since February 2025.
“In 2022, the Federal High Court nullified the purported local government elections conducted by the APC-led administration in Osun State and consequently sacked all APC chairmen and councillors purportedly elected from that exercise for failing to meet the required legal provisions,” he said.
He added, “This judgment was subsequently affirmed by the Court of Appeal in a judgment delivered by Justices Oyebisi Folayemi Omoleye, Peter Obiorah and Hadiza Rabiu Shagari on June 13th, 2025, thereby settling the issue of their lack of lawful mandate.
“Despite these clear judicial pronouncements, the sacked chairmen and councillors refused to obey the subsisting court orders, falsely claiming a non-existent reinstatement order.
Acting on this falsehood, they forcefully occupied local government council secretariats across the state, with armed police protection allegedly provided by the Osun State Command of the Nigerian Police Force.”
Olanrewaju insisted that, “continued occupation of local government secretariats by tenure-expired and court-sacked officials is illegal and unconstitutional and is tantamount to political banditry,” and demanded that security personnel desist from enforcing lawlessness.
Aligning with the CSO, the Director of Media for the PDP in Osun State,Oladele Bamiji, said the APC chairmen “have no tenure of office and should not have been laying claim to any, if not for misuse of government power.”
He called on President Bola Tinubu to rein in members of his party in the state and end their alleged illegal tenure.
“They were sacked by the court and yet they have refused to leave secretariats. It is an aberration we can’t imagine will happen in a growing democracy like the one we have in Nigeria. The dangerous part of it is that Osun Police Command is aiding these APC chairmen. We are calling on the President to call members of his party to order. Their actions, if not checked, portend dangers for Nigeria’s democratic rule,” Bamiji warned.
However, responding to the allegations, Osun APC spokesperson, Kola Olabisi, said the CSO “did not exhibit deep knowledge of the issues around the local government administration.”
He accused the CSO of playing a script given by the state government and dismissed claims that APC chairmen and councillors were illegal occupants of council secretariats.
“In the first place, it is gross misinformation for the cash-and-carry emergency civil society group to have accused the Court of Appeal-reinstated APC chairmen and councillors via its judgement of the 10th of February, 2025—which was not appealed against—of being illegal occupants of the local government council secretariats,” Olabisi said.
He explained that a suit is currently pending at the Federal High Court, Osogbo, “for the determination of the three-year tenure of the reinstated chairmen and councillors and to also determine if a legally-recognised and credible election can be held during the pendency of the tenure of the APC council executives.”
Olabisi added: “It is also misinformation dressed in the garb of freedom of expression to accuse the reinstated APC chairmen and councillors of re-invading the local government secretariats on 5th January, 2026, as the council executives who have been lawfully occupying their offices merely returned to their places of work.
“If the so-called convener of the faceless Network of Civil Society Group has not been living on the moon and has been following the legal fireworks on the local government imbroglio in Osun State, it wouldn’t have been difficult for him to know that there was nothing like tenure elongation suit filed by the legally elected and court reinstated APC chairmen and councillors.”
The ongoing dispute highlights escalating tensions between the APC, PDP, and civil society groups over the control of local government councils in Osun State, raising questions about rule of law, constitutional order, and the role of security agencies in political conflicts at the grassroots.
punch.ng
FOLLOW US ON:
